Turkey Meatballs
Turkey meatballs are leaner than your average beef or pork meatball with just as much flavor! Juicy, well-seasoned meatballs are baked and ready in 30 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey lean (I’m using ground breast not thigh)
- 1 small yellow onion diced (about ½ cup)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup breadcrumbs use gluten free if needed
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil for brushing the meatballs before baking or for pan frying
Instructions
To bake the meatballs:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C, and prepare a quarter size sheet pan with a wire rack (make sure it’s an oven safe one).
- In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the olive oil. Best to use your hands (I like to use gloves) but you can also use a spatula if you like, and mix everything together until just combined. Do not over mix.
- Use a cookie scoop and scoop 1 inch meatballs directly onto the sheet pan fitted with a wire rack.
- Lightly spray with olive oil, or brush using a pastry brush.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes. Place under the broiler if you want some color. The meatballs are ready when the internal temperature reaches 165°F/74°C – when testing with a kitchen thermometer, test different meatballs as the ones on the sides can cook quicker than the ones in the middle. Do not overcook them, they can become dry since this is lean meat.
To fry the meatballs:
- Heat olive oil in a pan, work in batches and brown from all sides (5-7 minutes). Check the temperature with a thermometer to know when the meatballs are cooked through.
- To serve with sauce, make pasta sauce or use jarred, heat it up and add the meatballs to cook together for 1-2 minutes or until they’re warm. Serve over pasta or zucchini noodles or rice. or in a sub/hoagie bun.
Video
Notes
- Gently mix and don’t overwork the meat, as it will result in tougher meatballs. What happens when you work the meat too much they become tough, rubbery, and chewy which is kind of the opposite of what we’re going for here.
- Meatballs with sauce. If you’re making a sauce to go with your meatballs at the same time, here’s where you can play around with the cooking time. You want to get your meatballs almost fully cooked, however you can finish cooking them while simmering in a sauce. This way, you’re not overcooking them while they continue to heat through.
- Don’t skip the egg! This is one time where I’d tell you to go take a trip to the store if you don’t have any. This is especially true if you’re particular about your meatballs not falling apart. The egg does such a good job binding the ingredients, that it’s hard to replace.
- Precise measurements. It’s one thing to use a cookie scoop to make the circumference of the meatballs uniform sizes but to get an even more accurate picture of the weight of each one, use a kitchen scale. This leaves even less room for the possibility of unevenly cooked meatballs.
- Taste test a small piece of the meatball mixture by adding olive oil to a pan and cooking it for a couple of minutes first. This way you can adjust your seasonings before cooking the entire batch of meatballs.
- Combination meat. This is just one of the ways to ensure a moist meatball. Using both white and dark meat will give you that bit of extra moisture without sacrificing all of your lean meat.
- Invest in a kitchen thermometer! It is an invaluable tool to have in your kitchen to make sure you are following proper guidelines for cooking meat and poultry. You can check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to use one for more information.
Nutrition
Serving: 1meatball | Calories: 46kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 79mg | Potassium: 70mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 18IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1mg
Find it online: https://littlesunnykitchen.com/turkey-meatballs/